X-Ray Vision

My clinical rotation at MSKCC is going very well so far! I am still completely overwhelmed by the amount of stuff going on while we put the patient to sleep (induction) and while we wake the patient up (emergence) but I am getting the hang of managing them during the case (as long as no disasters are occurring with the surgery)! I have been putting in arterial lines (like an IV but in an artery instead of a vein and we use it to monitor blood pressure instead of to give medication) and a couple IVs here and there. We (the students) are lucky because at this hospital we are not responsible for doing the pre-operative interview with the patient. In this hospital that is done by the anesthesiologist working with us. This is nice because it allows me to focus on planning my anesthetic without worrying that I forgot to ask the patient when they last ate, or to follow-up on an important part of their past medical history (like a new onset of chest pain while walking up the stairs to your bedroom). I will be responsible for doing this during my next rotation so I am enjoying the reprieve while I have it! Some of the procedures we are in require x-ray to help the surgeon see something inside the body. When we use the x-ray machine in the operating room we put on lead smocks to protect our vital organs from getting x-rayed over and over again (the patient is only there for one day but we are there every day)! I know mom wears these x-ray gowns at work so I sent her a picture of me in mine and she sent me a picture back of her in hers - like mother, like daughter :)